


Disaster

by midgetnazgul



Series: Second Reckoning [3]
Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Gen, discussion of death and war, let's talk about post-Scorist politics babey, liberal interpretation of Daath's metropolitan size, longform chase scenario, religious schism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25174057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midgetnazgul/pseuds/midgetnazgul
Series: Second Reckoning [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823626
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	Disaster

_Grand Chokmah, 6 months after Lorelei’s release_

One of his servants woke him up some time around three. The messenger waiting impatiently in the antechamber had only given him the clipped message that he was required immediately in Peony’s chambers. In his haste, he decided to merely throw on civilian clothes rather than expend the extra time for formality. A carriage manned by Imperial Guards awaited him outside the Curtiss manor, and upon entry into reptilian-drawn vehicle, Guy was waiting for him as well, looking exhausted but tense.

“They tell you anything?”

Jade shook his head. Guy’s forehead constricted with further tension. The mounts were run to the palace at full-tilt. Both men were all but pulled forcibly out of the carriage upon arrival. In spite of themselves to remain calm, he and Guy essentially ran up the path, across the entrance hall and into Peony’s room.

“What’s going on?” Guy demanded, bursting through the door first. His Majesty was fine, but was joined by General Nordheim, Seseman, and, inexplicably, Natalia, who was dressed in full battle regalia. She started when she recognized Jade, but recouped quickly enough and tried to cover up her involuntary show of discomfort. He let it go, and instead raised an eyebrow towards Peony as he joined his childhood friend’s side.

“Daath’s been overrun.” Peony opened bluntly.

“By whom?” Jade asked.

“The New Order,” Natalia replied. Guy gasped openly.

After the end of hostilities between Kimlasca and Malkuth, Van’s attempted destruction of the world, and Mohs’ complete meltdown, the Order of Lorelei had actually taken the most damage of all the governmental forces on Auldrant. Teodoro and Maestro Tritheim were the de facto leaders of the Order, but Tear and Anise both had thrown themselves into reforming the dogma so thoroughly that they had become the replacement for Ion as symbols of change. Without the Score, the organization and, by proxy, Daath itself had violently and abruptly lost most of its purpose and cause to exist as it had for 2000 years.

Mixed with that chaos was the fact that there were only about fifteen people on the entire planet who were fully briefed as to what humanity as a whole had experienced. A standing order banning Score readings and the vague announcement that the Score had become invalid was simply too much for a city so dependent on the prophetic scripture. The New Order “created” by Mohs had more than outlasted him – it had thrived and effectively been militarized because of the former Grand Maestro’s death. Its disciples had descended upon and hovered around the fringes of the holy city, attempting to win the hearts of the Score’s most faithful since they had rather forcefully been turned away by both Kimlasca’s and Malkuth’s respective governments. They had brought with them those of the other two countries who had found rejection of the Score unconscionable, fueled with righteous indignation to pass on to new converts.

Daath’s upper echelons were doing their damnedest to refute their rival’s inroads, but their own schisms hindered progress. Still, no previous violence had erupted outside of small fistfights hidden away in the cathedral’s dormitories for Oracle Knights. It had seemed for some time that the two sides had silently agreed to a war of attrition. Daath was a bastion of peace and religious observance to the entire world – outright physical hostility had seemed extremely remote even to Jade’s cynical mind. If the city truly had given itself over completely to rioting, it would be a disaster. None of the civilians in Daath would have the faintest idea how to protect themselves.

“How did you come to learn of this?” Jade asked sharply.

Natalia became withdrawn.

“You must understand, Tear and Anise hadn’t wanted to worry you.”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean? You knew it was worse than what we were told the last time we visited?” Guy asked with a raised voice.

“You will remember that I arrived a day earlier than you the last time we were there. That…had been at Tear’s request. She confided to me her apprehension in a letter some months ago, and asked me…to arrange a safeguard for her.”

“And that was?” Jade prodded.

“A single personal guard for both she and Anise from the White Knights, disguised of course. It’s true that they both have made incredible strides in bringing what’s left of the Oracle Knights to understand what’s happened, but that has earned them many enemies throughout Daath. This knight’s position was meant to be a last resort to help them escape if something like this ever happened.”

“Obviously that plan has failed, or they would all be here now,” Jade added.

“Y-yes. I received a carrier pigeon this afternoon, detailing what had happened. The city has been sealed from the inside, and the New Order is currently sweeping through the cathedral to root out ‘heretics’. Apparently they’re going to flee into the city to avoid capture as long as possible. I commissioned Noelle’s help and came here.”

“Then let’s go!” Guy shouted. His hand was gripping the scabbard of his sword with white knuckles.

“How do we intend to get into the city without detection? You said the gates were sealed.” Jade asked.

“Now, wait just a moment, Colonel,” General Nordheim piped up on Peony’s right, “You are under direct orders not to accompany them.”

“Why?” Natalia asked, astonished and obviously offended.

“I am a political liability if we are to fail, and are captured or killed, being a ranking officer of the Imperial Forces.” Jade said. Simple enough to anticipate.

“As am I!” Natalia countered.

“Your departure is Kimlasca’s prerogative, but at least one country must be able to maintain some kind of workable dialogue if, indeed, the New Order is successful in taking over Daath.” Sesemann replied.

True enough, he _was_ a political liability, but he was feeling far from acquiescent. Their last collective meeting two months previous weighed heavily on his mind, and it showed – Peony was giving him one of his _looks_ from off to the side. The grudge he’d allow to fester since they’d all last spoken had been torn off like an old scab, and was now stinging in repentant retribution.

“Hmm.” Jade muttered.

“What is it?” Peony asked. Jade paused just long enough to construct his usual, careless façade.

“Well, you _see_ , Your Majesty, I’ve been quite overwhelmed with this _endless_ amount of research. I do think I need to take a leave of absence. As you can see, I’ve already prepared myself for travel as a civilian,” he said with a smile, gesturing to his clothes. Sesemann snickered quietly.

Peony rolled his eyes. “All right. As of this moment, Colonel Jade Curtiss is on official leave from his regular military duties, until further notice. He is not allowed to present himself as a member of the Imperial Forces in the meantime,” he drawled before his expression became serious. “Are you up for this?”

Jade didn’t meet the emperor’s eyes. “I’m completely recovered. There’s no need to worry.” Peony gave him a passive-aggressive if-you-say-so shrug and sighed.

“Thank you, Co-…Jade.” Natalia said awkwardly. Guy just shook his head exasperatedly.

“Y-your Majesty…” Nordheim attempted to interject.

“He’s gonna go whether you want him to or not. Kimlasca will have a lot more trouble if they get caught anyway. She’s _way_ more recognizable than Jade,” Peony said, waving at Natalia.

“Why _thank_ you, Your--” Jade began.

“Shut up and be careful.” Peony said, cutting him off. Jade let the joke drop and returned to the matter at hand.

“That still leaves the problem of getting into Daath.”

“Why don’t we do what we did last time? Through the volcano?” Guy suggested.

“Noelle suggested the same,” Natalia agreed.

Jade shrugged. “There’s no guarantee they won’t have someone watching the sky for the Albiore, but that is the most logical and efficient choice.”

“She said she would fly in low the last few miles to the island, and then up the opposite side of Mount Zelaho.”

“Huh, well that settles that,” Guy said. He was obviously itching to leave as soon as possible. Jade had to agree, however silently. Tear and Anise were certainly resilient, but the three of them were already almost a day behind.

“Only you three? That cannot be a good idea,” Sesemann said.

“It will just have to do. There is no one else we trust enough that isn’t a member of one country’s military or another, and in all honesty, a larger group will just create more attention.” Jade replied. His mentor grunted his agreement.

“Like I said, be careful. All of you. Tear and Anise will both be granted political asylum by Malkuth once you bring them home,” the emperor announced, with both his senior councilmen nodding in unison.

Preparations after that were extremely rushed. Natalia had already packed a bag filled as much as she could with gels, and the two men didn’t want to lose even more time gathering supplies of their own. They were out to the Albiore, parked outside the city, within an hour from their arrival at the palace. Dawn was only a thin, almost unnoticeable line of light blue along the farthest end of the horizon, but none of them were feeling any effects of exhaustion. Anxiety and unanswered questions kept them perfectly aware of their surroundings.

As soon as Jade was seated in the aircraft, he began running various scenarios in his head, each one more grim than the last, all the while creating plans to alleviate the risk as much as possible. The odds were heavily against them – they were invading a city without any kind of knowledge of the on-the-ground situation to look for two people in a population of thousands who were being chased by merciless enemies hell-bent on punishing them for perceived, unconscionable sins.

 _Could be worse,_ he reassured himself. They _had_ done stupider things.

“Why are you smirking?” Guy asked from the seat opposite him.

“Oh, I was just weighing our odds. It’s almost reassuring to be back in a position where the most likely scenario is our complete annihilation,” he deflected easily. Guy gave him a why-did-I-even-ask eye roll and returned to staring pensively out the window.

All humor was lost as the Albiore made its final maneuvers into the mouth of Mount Zaleho. There was no way to know whether or not they had been spotted until they made it into the cathedral. Guy and Natalia stood and headed for the door even before the ship touched down and disengaged. Jade strode up to Noelle’s seat and placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

“When we return, I’ll fire off third fonons to alert you. If we haven’t returned in eight hours, leave. If you are attacked, leave. Understood?” Noelle’s eyes widened, but she acquiesced with a nervous nod. He turned to Natalia.

“Are you ready?”

She responded with a huff, opened the door, and strode down the walkway resolutely.

“All right, then.” Guy said, amused despite himself.

They had started off running through the labyrinthine rock paths through the volcano, but the heat proved to be too trying to continue for an extended amount of time. Monsters, fortunately enough, were few in number and were but a small obstruction to their ultimate goal – the warp next to the Planet Score. Both Natalia and Guy became tense as they arrived at the work site, reminded all too easily of what had happened the last time they had been here. Anything that reminded them all of Luke was difficult enough to deal with, but the added heartache of Ion’s death shook even Jade’s resolution. They couldn’t possibly handle any more loss, especially in a city that already symbolized so much anguish.

“We should hurry,” Natalia said hoarsely and put on extra speed up to the massive fonstone. The two men were enthusiastic to follow. As they all stepped into the glyph, Jade paused.

“Keep yourself on task,” he said as his own way of encouragement. Natalia took a deep breath and nodded.

“I hope this glyph has been fixed,” Guy said, obviously hoping to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“Anise took care of it when I brought Richard here,” Natalia sad.

“The knight?” Jade assumed.

“Mmhmm. He wanted to know where it was himself.”

Upon arrival inside the cathedral, Jade took the initiative of checking for guards while Guy and Natalia prepared their weapons.

“We’re clear.”

“Perhaps they’ve been too consumed with gaining control of the cathedral to keep watch for outside interference,” Natalia offered.

“Most likely,” Jade agreed, “that will be beneficial for our infiltration.”

There was no need to tell them to remain as quiet as possible – he trusted them to understand that on their own. In fact, as they made their way up the multitude of stairs towards the cathedral’s antechamber, the three of them naturally fell into a triangular formation, constantly at the ready for attack as if they had never stopped traveling together.

After passing through several hallways, they came upon the first few bodies. There were three – all of them in Oracle Knight uniforms, but two were marked with red fabric tied around their right arms.

“They’ve distinguished themselves,” Jade mumbled as he turned over a fonist marked with red.

“But which side are they?” Guy wondered.

“Most likely the New Order. They obviously started the hostilities, so they would have to have come up with a way to determine friend from foe easily in the early stages of the attack.”

“Shh!” Natalia hissed from the top of the stairs. She had gone ahead to peek through the gilded doors and onto the next hall. Guy looked up in alarm, then joined her at the top when she gestured towards him to come over. Jade remained to examine the bodies further. They were well into rigor mortis, so he guessed their collective deaths had been in the last eight to ten hours. He went over all the bodies for any clue as to what may have happened leading up to their final standoff, but was unsuccessful. With a tongue-cluck of dissatisfaction, he rested the helmless head of one of the fallen knights back on the floor and ascended the stairs as well. Natalia stepped aside to show him why she had silenced them – two guards at the far end of the hall, both with the same red accessories.

“Damn it,” he muttered. Whatever chance there had been of the original Order maintaining the slightest amount of control had been instantly dashed. He hadn’t been _that_ optimistic, but this did mean that several of the more positively-ending scenarios he had come up with were now out of the picture. Pointing to the door they had just come through, he led them back through it to speak with them.

“If they’ve already got guards into the smaller hallways, the entrance is going to be a nightmare.” Guy began with a stressful sigh.

“So, what then? Should we simply run for it?” Natalia asked.

“We won’t know for sure until we get there, but I don’t see a much better option.” Jade confirmed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to focus. “Until we get there, however, we’re going to have to kill anyone we come across to prevent our discovery as long as possible. Starting with them,” he added, nodding towards the door.

He was interrupted by a muffled shout. Once he made sure that it wasn’t the previously-mentioned guards stumbling in on their conversation, the three crossed the hall and returned to listen through the opposite door again.

“-attacking. Get out here.” A High Oracle Knight had joined the two junior guards.

“Fools. They can’t believe they’ll win the chapel back,” mocked the knight on the left.

“They’re only trying to distract us from hunting down the rest of their commanders,” their leader replied haughtily, “but it’s only a matter of time before they all suffer the same fate as Tritheim.”

“So they haven’t been caught yet?” asked the guard on the right.

“It hinders progress when they have such an accomplished melodist with them, but even the best knights can’t hold out more than two days under such conditions. Enough talk, let’s go.”

They clanked off through the last door out to the entrance hall. Each member of the small, hidden entourage took a moment to sigh with relief.

“That must be Tear.” Natalia whispered gratefully.

“Has to be,” Guy said, trying to encourage himself.

“Looks like we can use the fight as cover, but we have no more time to waste. They must have some sort of detail specifically searching for them. Once we head into the entrance hall, don’t stop until we are well into the city. Head directly for side streets – we have no chance on main throughways, nor do we have time to stop and help reformist Oracle Knights unless it’s directly consequential to our success.” He paused to consider the wisdom of continuing his train of thought. Neither of them was going to like it, but he was reasonably sure that both would understand that it was a mere formality. “And furthermore,” he began, lowering his tone to add weight, “under no circumstances are we to split up, save for the very last resort. If that is to happen, I will tell you when to run.”

“I hope you don’t intend to be the distraction if that happens,” Natalia accused with narrowed eyes. He was impressed she had picked up on his unspoken plan so quickly.

“I do.”

_No point in hiding it now, I suppose._

“No way, not happening.” Guy challenged.

“I agree. But it needs to be said. I have the greatest large-scale battle experience. There is an art to hiding in plain sight while overrun by enemies that you two, frankly, cannot even begin to comprehend. I have no intention of making myself a martyr.”

“That’s…reassuring. I had thought…well, that doesn’t matter.” She appeared chastened. Guy, too, looked a little uncomfortable. Jade stiffened with recognition of their discomfort, but he had to make sure he wasn’t deluding himself.

“You are still concerned with what happened in Shadow Redecan?” Their averted eyes confirmed his assumption. He was uncertain what to think of their reluctance – was it sympathy, or strategic assessment of his stability? Regardless, there was no time to consider it further, so he quashed his internal discomfort by recouping his stoic exterior.

“I thought I told you to keep your mind on task. There are more important things to be worried about.” With that, he slipped through the door ahead of his companions. Their hesitant footfalls echoing behind him did nothing to ease his mind.

With his back against the threshold into the cathedral proper, he brought forth his spear and used it to hold the door open just enough to look through a crack. The sounds of clashing swords drifted in.

“How’s it look?” Guy asked as he tried to catch a glance from over Jade’s shoulder.

“They’re concentrated at the front doors. I’m not sure we can-“

He was cut off by a large fonic explosion. Weapons, debris, and knights’ bodies came skidding back across the floor, followed quickly by a horde of soldiers.

“Never mind.”

They waited a few minutes for the fighting to more completely fill out the entrance hall. Jade elected to go first, and the other two fell into single file behind him. By treading along the right wall, they avoided detection for ten whole seconds. A red-banded fonist happened to catch them as he battered back an assault from a reformist.

“More intruders!” he shouted, using his halberd to point. A few unoccupied knights on both sides turned to look. Natalia brought down the offending spellcaster with a well-placed arrow. Several reformists who happened to notice cheered loudly before returning to their previous labors. Despite the encouragement, the reformists were clearly outnumbered. It did indeed seem as though the offensive was merely a distraction for as many New Order knights as possible.

A cluster of knights turned their full attention on the entourage and ran for them. Reformists threw themselves into their path.

“You must go, quickly! We know why you’re here,” said a soldier with a fifth-fonon weapon trotting up to them from the fray. None of them knew quite to how to respond.

“Many of us recognize you. You are Lady Tear’s and Lady Anise’s friends. I don’t know exactly where they are, but we had them escape into the city. It is much easier to evade capture out there, but these monsters have sent some of the best in the Oracle ranks in pursuit. Please, hurry and save them.”

“We intend to take them off-continent. You’re okay with that?” Guy asked with more than a little surprise.

The soldier took a moment to ward off an onslaught with his flamethrowing weapon.

“Of course. As long as they survive, it will be worth sacrificing our lives. Now go!” More Order soldiers had noticed what was going on, and began creating a clustered defense for the three of them as best they could to the door. Once outside, they were greeted by the sight of the morning sun, but far more disturbing was the multitude of small fires burning in several quarters of the city, all easily visible from their raised vantage point. Far below, at the bottom of the causeway up to the cathedral, they could hear more shouting.

“The citizens have picked sides as well. Please, don’t judge them, but be careful,” another anonymous soldier cautioned. They only nodded and took off down the hill.

“I’m glad they aren’t openly attacking citizens that have aligned with the New Order,” Natalia breathed as they ran.

“Probably Tear and Anise’s orders,” Jade guessed.

At the bottom, the damage was brought into much clearer focus. Makeshift barricades had been built on different sides of the street, and small groups of people, mostly men, drifted around on the street in threatening formations. A few bodies appearing to be civilians were scattered along the way up the main road to the front gates. Daath was not taking the shock of internal military discord well.

“Quickly,” Jade said, pointing down the nearest alleyway on the left. They ran for some way, aiming to get deeper into the city and, hopefully, away from any immediate danger. At a small neighborhood square, they stopped briefly.

“We’ve made it this far, but how are we actually going to _find_ them?” Natalia wondered.

“More than anything, we should try to tell them we’re here,” offered Guy.

“Are you suggesting signals? It’s a good idea, but we’re going to have to stay on the move if I do that,” Jade said. During their journey, they had developed a technique of releasing fonons to communicate when they were separated. It had been priceless while trying to reunite at the Absorption Gate.

“I hope they’ll notice.” Natalia said.

“Oh, I’ll make sure,” Jade assured pleasantly.

He decided on second fonons – it had been used as a general flare to show locations if they couldn’t see each other, and the color would stand out from the fires and the lightening sky. While gathering the requisite energy, he pondered on just how he would form them into something unmistakable. He smirked to himself as he came to a conclusion. Fon slots opened and a massive stream of yellow fonons shot up a good thirty meters into the sky before exploding into the shape of the fonic glyph the Sephiroth once employed.

Guy smiled. “Good choice.”

“Let’s move.”

They kept an eye on the sky as they ran, and sure enough, within a few minutes, green fonons streaked across the tops of the buildings and formed themselves into the shape of Tokunaga. The energy had originated from somewhere towards the front gates of the city, on the same side as their location.

“Oh, Anise,” Natalia murmured. Her eyes were tearing up a little at the signal.

Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t been the only ones to see the exchange of fonons. Soldiers met them around a corner as they adjusted their course in a rough trajectory towards where they had seen the fonons come from. Seamlessly Guy and Natalia made up a small rank in front of Jade to give him time to cast. Their enemies were in a crew of five, but that was easily whittled down to three with one set of fonic fireworks. Without more time to continue casting safely, Jade switched to hand-to-hand and drew one of the two swordsmen swarming Guy away. In his peripheral vision, he could see the last knight chasing Natalia around the square for no other purpose than to prevent her from assisting her friends. The person he was fighting was a higher-ranking, well-trained former member of Oracle.

“Looking for the traitors, are you?” his attacker sneered from his darkened helmet.

Jade ignored the bait – even if he had felt compelled to try talking down the man, it would never work. Instead, he feinted backwards and, once the knight attempted to press his assumed advantage, he spun to the right on his back heel, swept his hands up the shaft of his spear, and attempted to strike the man in the back as if with a dagger. At the last moment, the knight turned with him and managed to kick Jade to the side enough to achieve a mere glancing blow. Undeterred, Jade stepped back just long enough to pull in fourth fonons while the knight was regaining his balance. The soldier had just enough time to turn fully around and watch while the fonist thrust his lance up and forward into his enemy’s chest, lifting him off the ground, and release a torrent of lightning. Almost immediately Jade retreated, knowing it was a killing blow, but the dying man’s body continued to spasm with fading arcs of electricity as he fell. Even though he had managed to defeat the enemy, his underdeveloped stamina and strength from all the months of healing had become glaringly obvious.

_The sooner this is done, the better._

Guy had joined Natalia in cornering the last surviving knight. He was collapsing into a limp, human pincushion as Jade trotted over to meet them.

“They’ve obviously caught on to what we’re doing,” Guy said as he tried to catch his breath, “Assuming the girls are trying to meet us in the middle, any and all attacks are going to start piling up as we continue on. We don’t have time for this.” They took off again down the street they had turned on to. Sparks of green came up again, slightly closer this time.

Jade sent up more fonons of his own. “Keep running as long as possible. If it comes to it, I’ll start using artes to open paths.”

He didn’t have to wait long to resort to that plan. Two groups of three knights each honed in on them from perpendicular alleyways, one from behind, one from the front. Energy Blast rent the area around the front group, blowing apart their formation and flinging them against the walls of the buildings lining the street. Natalia began dancing backwards, firing groups of arrows downwards to slow up their pursuers. The tactic worked – two of them were forced to scatter while one was punctured by a pair of arrows in his lesser-protected legs. Jade finished them off with an explosion of fifth fonons. Archers who had heard the struggle joined the battle from the rooftops. Guy motioned to Natalia to take care of the one on the left, and he acrobatically leapt up a pile of crates to meet the long-ranged attacker on the right face-to-face. Blocks of homes continued to streak by as they continued along. Both assailants were dropped quickly, but Guy continued running along with his friends above, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, thanks to Daath’s extremely narrow residential streets. Occasionally Jade saw shadows of faces watching from within the perceived safety of their homes.

They entered a fairly large marketplace area, but it clearly had been scarred by some previous battle. A small church was half-collapsed, fallen victim to some sort of explosion, and what was left of the shop carts for the area were scattered to the four winds in splintered form. The stone surrounding them provided excellent acoustics to hear more reinforcements coming in from several blocks away. They took cover to regain their stamina in the shadow of the church.

“Damn it,” Guy cursed, bent over at the waist as he caught his breath.

A crunch from behind instantly caused them all to spin on the spot to face the far corner of the destroyed place of worship. Tear was emerging through a hole in what was left of the wall, followed closely by Anise, riding on top of Tokunaga. Behind them was a group of three knights. Natalia shed any sign of exhaustion and nearly tripped over herself running to meet her friends. She and Tear embraced fiercely. Guy wasn’t far behind, but he remained a respectful distance away to prevent an involuntary bout of his phobia. Jade approached, though it was impeded by shuffling through the pack. He tossed miracle gels to both their embattled companions before turning to the others, doing his best to ignore both girls’ obvious surprise at his presence.

“Thank Yulia.” Anise said with noticeable fatigue.

Guy couldn’t help but smile briefly at the reunion before sobering again. “So what happened?”

Tear’s shoulders slumped. “The attack was spontaneous. It’s only because of how suddenly it happened we were able to escape. They weren’t able to organize properly at first, so it gave us a small window to get out of the cathedral.”

“And Tritheim? We had heard…” Natalia’s voice faded at the sight of Tear and Anise’s crestfallen expressions.

“He was elsewhere when the attack began. We don’t know exactly what happened, but some soldiers told us he had been…” Tear turned her head to the side and covered her mouth.

Jade was apprehensive to ask, but they needed to know before they left. “What about Oliver, Pamela and Florian?”

Anise shifted anxiously. “I had Richard take them out of the city, before the road out was completely shut down.”

“And you didn’t go with them _because_?” Jade pressed, despite the fact he already knew pretty much what the answer would be.

“We can’t just leave! If Daath falls to the New Order-“

“They won’t be recognized by Malkuth or Kimlasca, and they aren’t nearly strong enough to start open warfare with either of them, much less _both_. However, holding a last stand here will accomplish nothing except your deaths.”

One of the knights accompanying the girls hesitantly nodded. “He is right, my lady.” Tear and Anise spun to face their protector.

Tear clutched her staff tightly to her chest. “But-“

“Please, Miss Tear, understand. We can blend back into Oracle ranks easily enough. You cannot, and the reform of the Order will not survive without the two of you.”

Guy nodded. “Another soldier at the cathedral said much the same thing.”

Both girls were quickly becoming emotional. The stress they’d experienced and the sacrifices they’d been forced to watch had chipped away at both their reserves of mental strength, and being faced with what was essentially failure, however temporary, left them adrift and seemingly purposeless. Natalia put herself between her friends.

“I understand. What you’re experiencing now is exactly the same as what happened in Baticul last year, when we had to flee. Remember what you said then?”

Tear shut her eyes and nodded. Anise stared at the ground, clutching one of Tokunaga’s massive paws tightly.

“This isn’t over,” Guy continued, “It’s just a tactical retreat.” Clinking armor echoed off the ruined walls, causing them all to move back to the furthest, darkest corner of the building. This discussion needed to end, and Jade had no qualms about hitting below the belt to make it happen. They were _all_ going to die if this pointlessness continued. Carefully he edged his way over to the two impromptu religious leaders.

“Natalia and Guy are absolutely right,” he said quietly as possible despite the noise outside, “and much like then, we have no time to continue debating this further. Argue as much as you like to stay, but _I_ don’t want to have to explain to Luke why you two insisted on having such a ludicrous death wish, and as such, I will drag you out if I have to.”

His words hit them hard. No one had expected him, of all people, to bring up Luke as rationale for abandoning Daath, and he had counted on it. He crossed his arms in impatience.

“Well?”

Tear shook away her doubt. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah…sorry Colonel,” Anise chimed.

“I’m not a member of the Imperial Forces right now, and you can apologize once we’re out of here alive,” he replied stiffly. Tear turned to the small collective of knights.

“Go back the way you came, try to find something red to disguise yourselves, and get off the continent as soon as you can.”

The men saluted with determination.

“We will await your return, however long it takes,” one murmured respectfully as his last goodbye before disappearing through the hole they had originally come through. Jade ground his back teeth to avoid wincing openly at their words. It didn’t matter – his friends noticed his unease anyway, but luckily, there was no time to address it.

“Shall we?” he asked, just a little too quickly. Each of the others took a moment to collect themselves while Jade tiptoed up to the wall closest to the marketplace. A small company of ex-Oracle Knights had gathered in the square and were making preparations to split up between the paths in each direction to search. He was loath to resort to larger artes, because he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep his strength up for their reentry into the cathedral, but it would be the best way to distract and minimize the forces cornering them. Tear and Anise were probably well beyond their limits already, restorative items or no. A glyph appeared beneath him. His friends took the cue, and silently moved up in anticipation for the attack.

“I feel fonic artes!” Someone cried out in the square. Too late.

“Oh countless falling stars, come forth. Meteor Storm!”

Comets streamed from empty sky onto the conveniently gathered enemies. Without pausing to watch the destruction, the five took off across the square in the direction Jade, Guy and Natalia had come from. Between screams of pain, he could catch a few barked commands demanding they be chased. Those who had taken the least amount of damage from the onslaught were ahead of their commanders’ orders, and had already rushed off to follow their attackers. Jade allowed the others to continue on ahead of him enough so he became the rearguard.

Before long, they arrived at a crossroad to be met by another, smaller collection of knights out searching. They had thrown together a small barricade behind them along the northern path – the most efficient direction to take back to the cathedral, which could easily be seen looming over the tallest of buildings. It didn’t take someone with an intellect greater than a rappig to understand exactly how they intended to escape, after all. Leaving would be astronomically more difficult than getting in.

Altogether, between both groups of soldiers, they were outnumbered three to one, and the Oracle faction was very obviously confident in their numbers. A few of them were even snickering. Jade backed up a little as Guy, Natalia, and Anise took up a rough triangle formation around him and Tear without instruction.

Guy spun his blade around in his hand and allowed himself a smirk. “It’s funny how they think they can win.”

“Seriously,” Anise giggled as she pulled Tokunaga into a put-em-up pose.

Jade, ever the pragmatist, couldn’t share their overconfidence. He looked over his shoulder to Tear.

“How are you doing?” She likely had been responsible for most, if not all, healing duties over the past thirty-six hours. Even for her, it would have been a massive burden given the fact she had been on the nearly-constant defensive.

“I’m fine,” she replied, injecting artificial bravado into her voice, but her legs were shivering with fatigue under her. She stepped away from the middle to take up a hand-to-hand position, creating a square around their oldest member.

“Hmph.”

Six of the knights charged forward as soon as Jade began his first incantation. Anise easily occupied three of them alone. Natalia busied herself with some of the standby troops in the back. Guy became all but a blur between two other knights, and Tear began throwing knives while remaining on the lookout for fonic attacks to defend against. The tips of Jade’s fingers tinged with heat as he released his chosen arte. Before the shards of light could finish their plunge, his own spear had been thrown across the battle and sunk itself into one of the guards in front of the barricade. The impaled soldier’s associate watched in undisguised horror as the weapon disappeared from his friend’s chest, but he managed to regain enough of his faculties to parry Jade’s charge. Prismatic light and exploding splinters from the barricade provided an excellent backdrop for the two men’s exchange of blows. The rest of the assembly, friend and foe, took notice of the newly-opened pathway.

“Go!” Jade shouted, struggling under a heavy downward sword attack. His opponent abruptly froze and dropped his sword. Upon closer inspection, Jade could see one of Tear’s throwing knives stuck in his neck, expertly placed between pauldron and helm. Sparring matches were abandoned for their continued escape. Anise took up the rear this time, having stayed behind just long enough to cast Negative Gate as a farewell. The chase continued, though with fewer pursuers. Curiously, none of the men following them seemed particularly worried about actually catching them. Occasionally their retreat was stopped long enough for small skirmishes when the party couldn’t continue at a flat-out run any more. Within an hour their pursuers had dropped to two, and by that point their pursuit seemed more than a chore than an actual mission.

_They’ve probably set up a final defense in the church. This is nothing more than an effort to make sure we get there._

A final confrontation was unavoidable. Everything else was just meant to whittle them down as much as possible before they got there. The New Order’s arrogance pushed Jade over the edge into true anger. His spear sparked into full form, and he dug his right heel into the cobblestones in mid-stride to spin and catch one of the knights left brutally in the lower half of the face with the bottom half of his weapon. The other didn’t even have enough time to bring up his sword before Jade had charged straight into his torso and pinned him against a wall with the tip buried through the gaps in his armor. Dimly, he could hear gasps above him from presumably a window where someone was watching. The soldier he had clotheslined clambered backwards away from him. Jade needed only to give the man a raised eyebrow before he stumbled to his feet and took off down a sidestreet.

He waited until the clanking footsteps of the fleeing man were out of earshot. “This is a waste of energy.” The entire right side of his upper body was searing, making it incredibly difficult to both catch his breath and soothe his anger. Everyone else had all but collapsed against nearby buildings.

Natalia looked up at him from where she had sat on the ground. “What do you mean?”

“Those men knew where we’re going. They’re probably putting together a more cohesive force either in front of the cathedral doors, or in the entrance hall. That area gives the greatest defensive advantage.”

“You don’t think they got to Noelle, do you?” Guy panted.

“I don’t think so. They couldn’t get to her from Mount Zaleho even if they knew how to get down there, and they’d have to be able to fly themselves if they went around the outside of the city to make it that quickly,” Anise countered, snuggled in the lap of a seated Tokunaga. “Most rank-and-file knights don’t even know there’s warp into the volcano.”

Tear nodded her agreement. “They’re probably still trying to figure out how you even made it into the city.”

Jade gingerly flexed his right hand into and out of a fist to relieve the tension. “At least we have that. But more than anything, we need a plan.”

Tear glided over. “Are you hurt?” She reached forward to grasp his arm and check for wounds, but he pulled away.

“No, it’s just muscle exhaustion.” Weakness felt as though it was creeping into his core from his extremities. Without raging adrenaline, he could feel muscle strain in his overworked legs. He was disgusted with himself for his lack of preparedness.

Without missing a beat, Tear changed tack. “Then rest. If you’re right, we can take a few minutes. Let them wait.” Her eyebrows were furrowed with worry, but she made no mention of his previous, healed injuries. She walked over to join Natalia on the ground. Jade rolled his shoulders and tried to focus his thoughts. A quick glance over the group confirmed his fears. They were run ragged. Ten minutes, an hour – it didn’t matter. Anything less than half a day wouldn’t be enough to recover properly for what would be a hellish homestretch out to the Albiore, especially for Tear and Anise. They had maybe three hours to even make it back. Straight off of the ship, when he, Guy, and Natalia had arrived, it had taken a half an hour to just make it through the volcano. At this point it would take probably double that time to do it now, with the condition they were in. More scenarios he had planned for disintegrated pessimistically. Against his better judgment, he slumped against a wall himself and removed his glasses in frustration.

_This was a terrible idea to begin with. But what choice did I have? Leave them to…_

He sniffed bitterly at himself for the thought. Self-deprecation and doubt would have to wait until no one else’s life was at risk. He straightened again, ignoring everyone’s anxious sideglances.

It was pointless to ask, but he figured he might as well be polite. “Tear, do you have enough energy to sing?”

“Of course.”

Jade managed to keep himself from rolling his eyes at her obvious lie.

“Then I think we can make a workable plan.”

Almost an hour later, they stood together in the shadow of houses nearest the massive road up to the cathedral, waiting for Anise to come back with a report on their enemies’ layout inside. Being the smallest and most acquainted with Daath, she had been the ideal choice for last-minute reconnaissance. Jade watched her tiny shadow jump from the ledge where the Second Monument was down to them on street level.

“They’re inside, and the doors are open. I’d say it’s a good thirty to forty guys in there,” she whispered, dusting leaves from the bushes she’d landed in off of her dress.

“About what I expected,” Jade said, “Are the rest of you ready?”

He caught all of their gazes for confirmation. Having received it, he gestured to Guy and Anise to take the lead. The two of them took a deep breath simultaneously, then took off like shots up the stairs. Natalia followed on their heels, readying a trio of arrows. Jade and Tear remained in the back. Just over their footsteps, he could hear the melodist begin chanting under her breath, struggling to remain in tune as best as she could despite running full-tilt. At the crest of the stairs, the front three leapt immediately into battle. Guy and Anise made the best barrier they could against the tide of soldiers, and Natalia shot arcs of arrows indiscriminately above and past her friends.

Tear finished her incantation, and a half-sphere of light flickered briefly around them as Force Field took effect. Jade had already begun casting – he required more time than Tear. Without pausing, she joined Jade in beginning a new spell right on top of the last. Both stepped forward slowly to focus as much of the devastation as they could beyond the double doors. Just as Tear’s final note echoed into the cathedral, Jade thrust forth his right arm.

“ _Indignation!”_

Thunder overpowered any cries of terror as forks of fonic lightning landed amongst Tear’s columns of fiery judgment. The resounding _boom_ shook the ground beneath everyone, knocking even those not caught in the destruction off-balance. Jade saw Tear stumble off to his right, so he turned to see her grasping her throat and wincing. He stepped over to give her one of the two gels he’d taken from the pack earlier. She took it gratefully and accepted his steadying hand on her shoulder while she downed it.

“Reinforcements!” Guy shouted, pointing up towards the stairs to the chapel itself. At least another dozen men were cascading out the door and down towards them, and ten or so men were still standing in the antechamber, though clearly still recovering from the ferocity of their attack. Hand still on Tear’s shoulder, he ushered her on ahead in a less-than-gentle manner towards the right-side door, but the group of soldiers arriving from upstairs, arriving fresh to the battle, were quicker on their feet and threatened to sandwich the group between them and the men by the entrance. Tokunaga’s paws began flailing above the crowd to make a path for Anise and her friends.

“ _Keep running!_ ” he shouted over metallic scraping from his defense against an unknown halberd swung into his path.

A foot shot out from the throng, directly into Jade’s right side. Without any of the usual protection provided by physical fitness or remaining stamina, he crumpled under the blow and landed heavily on his back, knocking the wind out of him. The aforementioned halberd rocketed again towards his upper body, so he rolled aside as best he could amongst the stampeding armored boots while trying to breathe properly again. The ear-splitting clink of the tip of the weapon striking into the flagstone echoed in his head.

Despite being face-down, he felt the space open up unexpectedly. He watched a knight be crushed under Tokunaga’s weight off to his right before he was roughly returned to a weak-kneed standing position by the giant doll. Apparently he didn’t move fast enough, because Tokunaga continued its physical suggestion by pushing him forward. Guy and Natalia caught his arms and continued pulling him forward until he got his feet under himself properly, and Anise jumped over them onto a couple knights and on ahead. She bashed open door after door back towards the fonic glyph from whence they came. Luckily enough, the enemy either hadn’t figured out where they’d come from, or hadn’t thought the five would get this far, because no more soldiers revealed themselves as they descended the endless hallways of stairs beyond the stragglers chasing them.

Anise was forced to shrink Tokunaga to get through the normal-sized door as they burst into the small library in the basement. The small threshold slowed up their pursuers enough so the group could make it to the hidden door beyond the bookshelves with little interference. Jade waved them all through before him, stepped through it and slammed it shut behind him. Taking as deep a breath he could muster after the assault upstairs, he gathered raw fifth fonons and released them with as much forward force and heat as he could without taking time for a spell. The door dented inwards and partially melted into the similarly-metallic door jamb surrounding it. Cries of pain could be heard just beyond it, but pounding fists continued nonetheless, already beginning to crack through the door where it was less melted.

“This is the best I can do.”

“Good enough.” Guy mumbled.

Even with whatever time they’d managed to buy with the fused door, they ran just as fervently as before. Each of them stumbled to a stop on the glowing glyph before long. After the warp, Anise shooed them off of it and performed some unknown arte of her own.

“I sealed it again, just like…” she drifted off, and everyone let the thought go.

“We have to keep moving. I don’t know how much time we have left,” Jade cut in curtly.

 _If any_ , he finished internally. Worried as they were about their timing, they nonetheless proceeded at a pace barely beyond casual walking because of the heat and the exhaustion. They would have to get creative if Noelle had needed to leave, but in the meantime, at least they weren’t in immediate danger. His fon slots almost seemed to ache as he pulled enough third fonons together for the signal he had told Noelle he’d use. There was nothing to do now but hope she hadn’t needed to flee. Seconds passed with increasing anxiety. No one spoke.

“If this doesn’t-” Guy began weakly.

“Shh!” Jade cut him off and closed his eyes.

_I thought…_

“There it is.”

He could feel the characteristic fonic activity of the flightstone, though it required all of his worn-out faculties to do so. Soon enough, the delicate hum of the Albiore’s engines could be heard just over the bubbling lava below. The girls laughed in relief and clustered together in celebration as Noelle dropped into the mouth of the volcano. Guy had jumped up and over onto the deck around the hatch before the ship had even finished touching down. The door was already open, so he hurried inside, presumably to tell Noelle they had been successful and needed to leave ASAP. He paused only long enough to engage the gangway up to the door for the rest of them. Jade gestured towards the women to precede him.

Once inside, he watched the five of them greet each other more officially, now they were reasonably safe. Hugs and high-pitched, slightly hysterical laughter were exchanged between the kids in relief. Anise was first to turn and look back at Jade. She was clearly unsure as to what to say, and the others took notice of her distracted silence. Tension began to rise once again as their chatting died off. Jade stepped on past the group and towards his usual seat in the Albiore.

“I’m glad we made it in time. Let’s return to Grand Chokmah. I want you two to see some actual medical attention.” He sat down and made it clear through his body language that he wasn’t interested in conversing further.

“A-all right,” Guy agreed, turning to Noelle. “We’d better get out of here, fast.”

Noelle consented wordlessly, and a few minutes later they were flying back over Daath on their way out towards the Central Ocean. Jade could still see plumes of smoke even from their altitude. Tear and Anise both clung to the joints between the windows of the cockpit, watching the city fade into ocean mist.


End file.
